Wild Nature,
outside commercial civilization,
runs on gift economy
("freely give, freely receive").
Thus it is balanced. Commercial civilization runs on thought of credit and debt ("knowledge of good & evil").
Thus it is imbalanced.
What nation can balance
its own budget or environment?
Gift Economy is Faith, Grace, Love
- the core message of every religion.
The proof is inside you:
Wild Nature is your True Nature,
crucified by commercial civilization.

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Physics & Spirituality of Gift Economy

Here's my debut blog/vlog, after over a year sabbatical of not blogging! And I must admit I feel excited about publishing this video, "The Physics & Spirituality of Gift Economy." This talk is a crystallization of years of what I've learned living without money.

Thanks to my friend Cullen Purser for filming this talk.

I dare say you'll hear things in this talk you've never heard before... that I know of. Yeah, that I know of. New buds on a tree blossom all over the tree, so perhaps you will witness this same blossoming in other parts of the world. They are not from me but from the Whole.

My dad passed away over a year ago (February 19th, 2016) a month before what would be his 88th birthday on March 23rd. Then, it felt gloomily auspicious that on March 23rd, 2016, my moneyless comrade in Germany, Heidemarie Schwermer, passed away. So it's been me living with and taking care of just my mom since then. 2016 felt like one of the darkest years of my life. And I haven't been able to bring myself to blog until now.

Two years ago, after 15 years of living without money, I had to put my moneyless lifestyle on hold to be the live-in caretaker of my aging parents. One year ago, my dad passed away.

Ironically, I’ve had to manage my parents’ bank account, go shopping, and deal with the bureaucracy and culture shock of it all as well as go through the grieving process. This time has give me the opportunity to delve inward, to process ideas from the previous 15 years of living moneyless. It helps me empathize with a world trapped in commerce.

I’ve watched these ideas blossom into epiphanies. And these epiphanies are crystallizing into a coherent science, philosophy, and theology of gift economy. Gift economy (meaning economy without money or conscious barter) is already the law of this infinite universe all around us. Now I am grateful for the opportunity to share these epiphanies with the public.

You can't see most my slides in this video, so I'm including the slides separate for reference (List shows slide numbers that coincide with video times):

37 comments:

So much gratitude for you Daniel for sharing your knowledge of life and universe!! I'd like to share my deepest sympathies for the hardship you and your family has been facing in the last year with the passing of your father. I wish you the best in the years to come. You are truly a gift to humanity and I am excited to hear you speaking publicly once again!

Thanks for the reminders of why I do what I do. I was led down a similar path in 2013. Money is an illusion and mostly used as a form of economic terrorism. The love of it truly is the root of all evil. Peace and love, Michael Agape

PS The Agape Experiment is coming soon and I would love to interview you

I would love to know about the Agape Experiment also Could someone email me at momheart555@gmail.com? Suelo, you have received and are teaching the answer for the new age that all the real people are looking for, whether we know it or not, yet. The people at Tianamon Square, the new Russian revolution, the old Russian revolution, the American revolution, and others, and the people who protest the economic system today, and those who agree with them, what have they all been looking for? The ultimate goal is to find a system or a way to provide for the needs of the population without greed or excess, but with prosperity for all. You have brought the world a plan that was given to you and that will be of great importance, even in its great simplicity.

Thank you for posting and sharing, Daniel. I hadn't thought about our exchange economy like this, but you are so right. That's very helpful!I'm so sorry to hear about your father. May the Creator bless you and your family with strength and comfort.

Hi Danial: Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the world. Glad you were able to be there with your father during his final days and that you are also with your mom now. I'd love to hear more about your personal experiences of what life has been like for you sense you have been mainly 'confined' to the four walls of indoors and relating with others in the more 'mainstream' aspects of society. Comparing your life now to prior to living with your parents is something I'd like to hear more about!

Hi Daniel, I'm glad you could be with your dad in his last year. I'm sure your mum is appreciating your company as well.I loved listening to your talk. Confirmed a lot of what I've been thinking.The other aspect I've been researching is the feminist take on the Gift Culture. I just downloaded (but not read yet), Genevieve Vaughan's book http://gift-economy.com/women-and-the-gift-economy/, eager to hear your assessment if you have/get-to read it.Also, I'm just wondering if there is something missing in the link to your slides, as they don't seem to open up? I'd love to know what they are within the context of your talk.Not sure if I'm doing something wrong. Warm regards.

Martyn - thanks for your comments, & for the link. I'm itching to look at it. The feminist take on it is another subject that I was biting my tongue on to hold for possibly another presentation (not enough time for this one).

I don't know what's up with the slides. Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't when I load the post for myself. I'll check into it more. Meanwhile, you might try reloading it.

As a feminist woman, I am sorry I haven't read her book, but I have lived the life. I have lived without income in the dessert and the "wilderness", living on faith and the kindness of strangers, without panhandling, but by talking to people in various places. At times with my family and children in tents and caves in the Superstition Wilderness, at another time with just a friend. I taught my friend to live on faith, as I have called it, with nothing, and without taking, but giving and receiving and getting to know many good people. We can learn so much that way.

My friend Pen shared your link on her blog and your words have consolidated some thoughts and given me food for the others ruminating in my head :-). I will be listening to your talk again, thank you for sharing San

You have been to me and my daughter our greatest hero and amazing inspiration for our own free and freedom life we are living now by just giving and giving and giving for free everything and therefore getting back the same :)

I think trying to convince the sleeping masses to wake up and not be humble slaves to the giant consumer machine is noble but lets call your blog what it REALLY is... a blog built on the back of the working Joe. The guy that is too tired at the end of every day after giving all of his blood, sweat and tears to be bothered to see who is using the library that his tax dollars paid for and just goes back to work again the next day and does it all over again.

I live in a Money World - without my world your "Moneyless World" does not exist.

Don't get me wrong... I think what you are doing is good... But it would be nice if you just gave a little more respect to the ones that enable you...just saying.

A very obvious gloss that on the surface works, however just as you would not be arrogant enough to say that a bird is freeloading on the crumbs of society, or even the city park's lawn worms, consider first that Suelo may be unplugging from your world, as Jesus taught: in it, but not of it. And in doing so, he engages his autonomy that is pre-apologized for in that it steals nothing, demands nothing, but takes as it comes, squelching the consciousness of greed all along the way. Of course I do not wish to speak for Suelo, and the dialectic at play is rather complex from the distance, but as the mission becomes more clear, one can see that this walking through the fire into a post-money world only looks like slave-exploitation on the surface (though we admit we are all in this together implicitly, sinners if you will). There is also the aside that people who slave away may actually be living incorrectly, using their families or stomachs as excuses to keep the economy of law alive. Suelo is no accuser, but Christ certainly is. Read what he said. Returning to the point, the breaking from credit and debt is not a balance of use, borrow, or trade, nor an engagement with who paid how much in what time frame. It is a cleaving free from this neverending cycle of blame, guilt, honor, reward in the only way possible: a non-engagement with any further belief in these numbers, digits, bills, and documents. No one is trying to keep the library sustained on blood money except those who participate. Let the building decay, the internet fall away, so be it. But right now I'm walking in the door and drinking from the fountain on my way towards liberating myself as a piece of the world so in need of liberation.

Diogese said it beautifully, but I would like to add that without the credit/debit economy, and the struggles of the working stiffs, the moneyless world would be working better, not as your conservative critic said. They can't imagine a world without the money structured economy. I can.

Hi Daniel, I am so glad you are blogging again. I have recently started rereading your blog from the beginning and it's very enjoyable.

I saw this article the other day and the first part of it reminded me of you; it talks about the early "free lance" monks who wandered around Europe. Not a well known part of history! https://medium.com/incerto/how-to-legally-own-another-person-4145a1802bf6

I am not living moneyless but in an odd way I am living powerless... I have Grave's Disease an am very weak, cannot even do many household chores, and it is because of the generosity of my husband that I have enough money to buy food and medicine.

Lately I have had a relapse and my naturalist doctor and many signs in the world have been telling me to TRUST GOD. So reading your blog has been wholesome for me, and the many kind and interesting people in the comments have also uplifted my heart.

PS: Stopping by on Easter morning to add... isn't it interesting that Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection? She was the disciple who was best able to freely receive with humility (unlike the male disciples) but without trying too hard to give back (unlike Martha). And she freely gave of her perfume when she annointed Jesus.

Their meeting in the garden is almost like a chaste transformation of the love between Adam and Eve. So much to consider!

I'm really glad you are back Daniel. I keep wondering for the past year, how you were?It is really nice how much you are doing for your parents. I'm sorry about your Dad passing. You are an inspiration. Warm Regards :)

Hey Dan, I recently became aware of you and your lifestyle through the series on Netflix called "The Moaning of Life" I had to look into the legitimacy of the episode which then turned me towards your biography by Mark Sundeen. I couldn't put the book down! So refreshing to see someone so dedicated to a path that is so against the grain of our society. I say good job sir keep the faith and keep on keeping on. Also I'm sorry for the loss of your father. A new fan - Justin

I just wanted to say thanks for your FAQ. It gave me a comprehensive understanding of how and why you do it. As I read through it, I started to wonder if it was possible to live this kind of lifestyle here in Singapore. I decided to try it out. This week, I took a 4-day holiday to live without money. It was awesome! Thank you for making it possible for me.

I wrote my experience here: https://freeganinsingapore.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/freegan-holiday-1/

What is interesting about the whole concept of living without money is everyone assumes it can only be done by going to extreme lengths, which unfortunately result in breaking laws (which often happens to homeless people).

Our greatest ignorance comes from not understanding 'law' properly. There is no law which states we have to exchange our labours for money, but there are laws which demand we take care of ourselves in a lawful manner (which means not being homeless).

Think about this obvious contradiction for a minute - how is it that I can fulfill my legal and moral obligations to society, i.e. to provide for myself, in a manner which does not cause me to break the law? Is there any law which requires me to compete against others in order to fulfill the law? Do you see how silly this is?

We are looking in the wrong spot for an answer to this problem because, out of ignorance, we think the government is against us - NO - the government IS the community. Think about this for a minute. Who did Christ serve?

Jesus driving moneychangers & merchants from the Temple.

Sadhu of India

Call me Suelo

I lived totally without cents since Autumn of 2000 (except for a couple months in 2001) until the Spring of 2016, when I started caring for my aging parents, managing their finances. For 15 years I didn't use or accept money or conscious barter - nor did I take food stamps or other government dole. My philosophy has been to use only what is freely given or discarded and what is already present and already running (whether or not I existed).
I don't see money as evil or good: how can illusion be evil or good? But I don't see heroin or meth as evil or good, either. Which is more addictive and debilitating, money or meth?
Attachment to illusion makes you illusion, makes you not real. Attachment to illusion is called idolatry, called addiction. I simply got tired of acknowledging as real this most common world-wide belief called money! I simply got tired of being unreal. Money is one of those intriguing things that seems real and functional because 2 or more people believe it is real & functional!